P R E F A C E. 
The numberless uses to which Caoutchouc is now applied has 
placed it in the front rank of vegetable products, rendering a large 
and constant supply imperative, and this necessity early led me to 
the consideration of the sources of supply, and how such ; supplies 
could be increased and insured. 
In consequence of some inquiries made by Major-General 
Strachey, C.S.I., and Clements R. Markham, Esq,, C.B., I was 
charged by Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for India in Council 
to prepare this Report. When I had handed in the manuscript and 
it had been approved of, the Indian Government liberally granted 
my request that the Report should be illustrated with plates, $c. 
j To Trelawney Saunders, Esq., of the Geographical Department 
of the India Office, I have to tender my thanks for the oversight 
he has taken in the production of the maps, and to my friend 
Gustav. Mann, Esq., for kindly undertaking the production of 
the Assam map, and in a high degree to Dr. Forbes Watson, M.A., 
for material assistance in carrying out my previous inquiries in this 
subject. 
The excellence of the four plates of plants by Mr. Blair 
speak for themselves, and to W. Carruthers, Esq., F.R.S., of the 
British Museum, I am indebted for the critical examination of my 
new species here described, and for his careful oversight in the 
production of the plates. 
My new species, Castilloa Markhamiana , I have dedicated to 
C. R. Markham, Esq., C.B., as a small mark of my humble 
appreciation of his scientific attainments, of his untiring zeal and 
success in the acclimatization of the Cinchonas in India, and of tlfe 
great intqrest he has taken in the production of this Report. 
(8279.) a 2 
